


exhale and reset

by helahound



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Drabble, Hot Springs, Love Confessions, M/M, Sheith Month 2018, because that's a perfect place to have this discussion, let them rest, post-season 6
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-31
Updated: 2018-07-31
Packaged: 2019-06-19 05:42:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,081
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15503571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/helahound/pseuds/helahound
Summary: Keith's body is a canvas of bruises.Shiro can paint each one from a memory.





	exhale and reset

**Author's Note:**

> This is a slightly late entry for Sheith Month. 
> 
> It's also the first thing I've posted in years. I would like to personally thank Season 6 of Voltron for curing my writer's block.

They find a habitable planet to set down on less than a day's journey away. It’s a nice planet; breathable atmosphere, plant life that should hopefully be edible, water. It should be enough to get by with until they can contact Matt or the Blades.

The best thing about the planet, they find when they finally set down, are the hot springs. There are several steaming rock pools fed by a small waterfall not far from where they land. The entire clearing looks like something out of a travel magazine. 

Shiro watches as the others run, shrieking, to the water's edge. He closes his eyes, smiling as he listens. God, he's missed this, missed them.

A hand touches his shoulder.

"Hey," Keith smiles at him. "Come on, I'll help you get this off."

He hasn't thought about how he’s going to get the armour off yet. Shiro had spent most of the trip in a deep exhausted sleep, he had never realised how tiring having a physical form was until he’d spent time without one. He feels strangely heavy in his body, almost as if he can sense gravity’s weight pressing down on him.

Keith's hand slips into Shiro's as easy as breathing, and Shiro lets Keith tug him gently towards a smaller pool away from the others. Keith makes quick work of the armour on his left arm, removing it with quiet, calm efficiency.

Shiro studies Keith as he works. Keith has changed so much from the person Shiro remembers, not just in appearance, but in the way he holds himself. He’s calmer now, focused in a way that he always struggled with before. It suits him.

A few minutes later and their armour and undersuits lie in a haphazard pile on the rocks. Shiro’s not sure if they’ll be able to salvage what’s left of his.

Shiro inhales sharply as Keith enters the water.

Keith's body is a canvas of bruises, a vivid wash of deep blue and purple splashed across his back. Shiro can paint each one from memory. The fight still plays like a technicolour slideshow behind his eyes, each moment caught in agonizing detail.

Shiro closes his eyes and breathes out slowly before following Keith into the water. It’s just on the edge of too hot, the slight burn helps though, clears away the haze in his head and makes him feel like he’s actually here, like this moment belongs to him.

Both of them settle slowly, mindful of every bruise and ache.

Next to him Keith sighs, then wrinkles his nose. “I think this is the first time I’ve had a bath in two years.”

“Well, I wasn’t going to say anything…” Shiro jokes. 

Keith rolls his eyes. “Thanks.”

Truthfully, Shiro can’t remember the last time he had bathed like this either. The heat on his skin feels familiar and new all at once. It sparks memories of visiting hot springs as a child, but at the same time he has the knowledge that he’s never been to one in this body before.

_ This body. _

The quiet horror of that hasn't quite hit him yet. 

It’s odd having two sets of memories. Some are distinctly not his, like watching a dream where you’re you but also someone else. Others overlap and blur together until he can’t tell which one of them lived it. 

His memories of the astral plane are a window that’s slowly frosting over. What had once been clear is now indistinct, and the more he tries to focus on it the faster it slips away, leaving nothing but a lingering sense of emptiness. He’s content to let it fade. It’s not, he thinks, something he is meant to remember.

Logically, he knows most of the memories he has of his time with the team, at least the recent ones, aren’t his. They belong to the other Shiro, but they still feel like his memories. His thoughts, his feelings, his fear. Because the clone was him, had always been him, and even Haggar hadn’t been able to change that in the end.

Takashi Shirogane had died, but he had lived too.

He watches Keith sink deeper into the water and Shiro is suddenly, irrevocably, glad that he’s still here. That they’re both still here.

The scar is a streak of bright angry pink across Keith's cheek. Shiro remembers Keith pleading with him, will never be able to forget the sound the blade made as it burned into skin, so, so close to ending it all.

_ ‘Please, Shiro..’ _

He remembers everything.

Keith turns, as if sensing Shiro’s eyes on him. He frowns slightly at Shiro’s expression. “What are you thinking about?”

“You.”

The truth slips out before Shiro can even finish the thought. A faint hint of pink spreads across Keith’s cheeks, but he doesn’t look away.

Shiro reaches up and traces Keith’s scar with his thumb. The guilt hits him like a punch to the gut. 

“I’m so sorry Keith,” Shiro says. 

Keith’s eyes widen. “Shiro, no-”

“I know,” Shiro cuts Keith off. “I know I wasn’t the one in control, but I’m still sorry that they used me to hurt you.”

Shiro takes a deep breath. “I hate that I could have-”

Keith’s hand covers his, the warmth seeping into his skin. It feels like forgiveness. “You didn’t. I’m right here, Shiro. I always will be.”

The relief sweeps through him. He hadn’t pushed him away. Keith is still here and Shiro never wants to let him go again.

“I love you.”

The truth is laid bare in the space between them. Keith is everything to him.

Shiro is close enough to see the surprise flicker across Keith’s face. “I remember everything you said,” he continues, “I love you too, Keith. I have for a long time I think, it just took me dying to realise that I’m in love with you. Death has a way of… putting things into perspective.” 

Once the words start they don’t stop. He can’t ignore it anymore, he needs Keith to know how much he means to him.

The water rippling around him is the only warning he gets before he has an armful of wet Keith.

Keith clings tight, presses his face into Shiro’s shoulder and lets out a shuddering breath. Shiro wraps his arm around him, tangling his fingers in damp black curls.

“Don’t even think about dying again, Shiro.” Keith says. “I won’t let you.”

Shiro smiles softly and holds Keith tighter.

“Okay.”

 


End file.
